Routing Overview

Number Translation Services (NTS) were introduced in the 1980’s (The 0500 Freephone range was allocated to C&W in 1982) to provide businesses with recognisable national telephone numbers.

NTS is the name for number ranges such as:

• 0800 (free to the caller)
• 0844 (up to 5p per minute)
• 0845 (charged at the old “local” rate)
• 0870 (charged at the old “national” rate)
• 0871 (up to 10p per minute)
• 09 (premium rate)

The cost of the call is dependent on the telephone numbers prefix (for example an 0800 number is free to the caller).

The NTS telephone numbers allows businesses to advertise just one telephone number to their customers through which all their services can be accessed regardless of the location of the company offices. This also enables customers to establish a national presence where required.

Programming at the network level using NTS numbers allows businesses to take advantage of efficiencies offered by call delivery options such as:

Time of day routing

This service allows a complete range of time specific routing, such as the routing of calls during working hours to a main number while out-of-hours calls are sent to a secondary site or a voicemail system.

Day of week routing

This service enables pre-programmed routing based upon the day of week, with the option of individual days being allocated specific routing plans.

Calendar Date Routing

This service allows pre-programmed routing for specific days, separate from the day of week routing. This is particularly useful for public holidays, or for efficiently managing staff holidays.

Area of Origin Routing

Offering a complete geographic routing capability based upon the BT STD code system. The level of granularity for this routing can be extended down to the individual local exchange level, or even down to an individual telephone number. Bespoke default destinations can be programmed for non-geographic sources such as cellular networks.

Ratio Distribution

This service enables the ability to distribute traffic based upon a percentage distribution basis. This feature is useful where there are a number of different sites receiving calls from a single IN number and it is important to distribute calls evenly among the sites.

Intelligent Diversion

This service offers the ability to route calls on an overflow basis if the primary destination is engaged or unanswered. The diversion upon no answer can be offered on a bespoke ring period before the alternative destination is invoked, for example routing to the alternative destination after 10 or 15 seconds of ringing. The IN platform differentiates between engaged and unanswered destinations and offers the ability to re-route according to each individual failure.

Alternative Routing Options

This service offers the ability to create multiple routing plans, which can be held dormant until required. The activation of an alternative routing plan can take place within 15 minutes by contacting our Customer Care facility. This provides the ability to design multiple disaster recovery routing plans, or a range of plans to meet specific planned scenarios.

Customer Controlled Routing

Offers the ability to create bespoke customer controlled routing or IVR services. These services include Auto Attendant functionality allowing calls to be routed to multiple call centres within the UK based upon interaction with the caller. The voice menus can be recorded to bespoke requirements utilising professional DAT recordings. There are no limits to number of destinations available from the IVR platform and the system can hunt across multiple destinations if sites are busy. Sub menus can then be offered, each utilising independent routing plans.

Next: NTS Services Background »